Contenu du sommaire

Cristina CAPINERI, Italian geography and networks: a bibliographic essay. This article provides a critical review of research in Italian geography in the field of networks. The notion of network recurs regularly in geographical studies; it may refer to various different paradigms. Three phases may be identified: first, an empirical and descriptive phase; second, a phase of functional analysis; and third, a phase of theory and interpretation. Each phase corresponds in fact to evolutions in methods and content. The works consulted and itemized here may thus be classified according to whether they deal with technical network systems, flow networks, urban networks or new networks.

Patrice A. CARRÉ, From the telegraph to the telex: a history of technology, early networks and issues in France in the 19th and 20th centuries. An attempt to trace a history of the telex service in France would appear at first sight to be a relatively secondary and, on balance, quite simple undertaking. Confined to well-defined sectors, telex seems a marginal tool. Easily situated chronologically, the service has definite beginnings (origins) and, if not an end, at least something resembling a culminating point with the tell-tale signs of a slow decline and impending demise. But the history of telex is more complex than may at first appear. Although by and large, it has followed the same pace as the growth of telecommunications in France, it had a relatively separate development subject to different tensions and patterns. A closer examination of this development must focus on the concourse of network history and business corporation history. In ordinary language, the word telex designates a document. In the history of communications techniques, the word telex also designates a terminal. Telex is, thus, a service enabling subscribers to send each other written messages by means of teleprinters. And telex is also an exchange-based switched network, with teleprinters communicating over this independent network, the telex network, as distinguished, both physically and operationally, from telephone networks. Although telex is a relatively recent innovation, it must be seen in the broader context of an earlier technnique: telegraphy, i.e., a network for point-to-point transmissions of signals represented initially by visual codes, then by bars/dashes, and then by written messages composed of alphanumeric characters... recent innovation, it must be seen in the broader context of an earlier technnique: telegraphy, i.e., a network for point-to-point transmissions of signals represented initially by visual codes, then by bars/dashes, and then by written messages composed of alphanumeric characters...

Jean-Paul SIMON, The origins of US public utilities regulation: elements for a social history of netivorks. This paper deals with the genesis of the regulation of public utilities in the United States. It focuses on the complex interaction among corporate actors, branches of the government (Congress and the courts) and small and large users that led to a dual regulatory system (anti-trust laws/independant commissions). Regulation is seen as both a compromise between conflicting interests (shareholders, users, governments, management) and as a trade-off between government intervention (to protect users) and the establishment of a legal monopoly for private firms (to secure growth).